JPH0395374A - Auger-type ice-making machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To minimize the area of a compressing passage and perform stable ice- making while maintaining a well-balanced combination of ice-making and delivering, by a construction wherein at least two short, thinner projected pieces are provided at regular angular intervals between a plurality of thicker projected pieces, and the projected pieces are provided with inclined surfaces and vertical surfaces parallel to the axial direction. CONSTITUTION:A plurality of thinner projected pieces 16, 16 are provided, whereby the number of ice-compressing passages 7 is increased, without a marked decrease in the total area of the passages 7 as compared with that in a conventional design. The balance between the quantity of ice made in a cooling cylinder and the quantity of ice fed out through the passages 7 is not worsened extremely, and stable ice making can be achieved to make an increased amount of ice, without any ice jamming or the like in the cylinder. The thinner projected pieces 16, 16 and thicker projected pieces 14, 14 are provided with inclined surfaces 16a, 14a, which function to gradually compress shaved ice. On the other hand, straight vertical surfaces 16b, 16c, 14b of the pieces 16, 14 act effectively for ice shaping. Thus, blocks of ice with good quality can be made through gradual compression at the inclined passage parts and shaping at the vertical passage parts.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (a) Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to an auger-type ice maker, and more particularly to an improved structure of an ice compression passage suitable for producing large quantities of small, hard ice pieces.

(Explanation) Conventional technology Auger-type ice makers use an ice-shaving auger to scrape off the ice layer that grows on the inner surface of a cooling cylinder, push the scraped water particles upwards, and create multiple ice compression passages that expand around the upper part. The structure is such that scraped water pieces are forced into the tank and compressed to form a compressed ice block, which is then cut into an appropriate size and the ice pieces are stored in a water reservoir.

Many improvements have been made to the ice compression passage so that high-quality compressed ice blocks can be produced smoothly. For example, as the prior art, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 58-3022 discloses that a plurality of protrusions extending in the axial direction at predetermined intervals are provided on the curved surface of the pressing head to form a compression passage, and these protrusions are alternately thick and thin, the length of the thin protrusions is shorter than the thick protrusions, and a tapered blade is provided at the lower end of each protrusion, and the tip of the blade is An auger-type ice maker is disclosed in which the ice maker is chamfered into an arc shape.

(c) Problems to be Solved by the Invention In this way, when the compression passages are formed by alternating thick protrusion pieces and thin protrusion pieces, ice making in the cooling cylinder and ice carried out from the compression passage part The structural design is such that the balance is maintained.

In general, it is made into a large cooling cylinder suitable for mass production. However, if it is required to make small ice cubes (chip ice) using this large cooling cylinder, it is naturally necessary to make the compression passage small. In order to make the compression passage smaller, as shown in FIG. 5, there is a way to make the thick protrusion piece thicker as shown in the dashed line diagram, or to make the thin protrusion piece thicker as shown in the dotted line diagram. Still another method is to increase the number of thick protrusions and thin protrusions.

However, no matter which method is used, the area of the compression passage will eventually become smaller than before, resulting in an imbalance between the amount of ice produced in the cooling cylinder and the amount of ice taken out from the compression passage, resulting in a delay in the removal of ice cubes. Eventually, ice clogging occurs in the cooling cylinder, causing a problem in which stable ice-making operation cannot be performed.

The present invention has been developed in view of the problems described in (A). It increases only the thin protrusions, minimizes the decrease in the compression passage area, maintains a balance between ice making and transport, performs stable ice compression, and achieves high quality hardness. The purpose of the present invention is to provide an auger-type ice maker capable of making high-quality chip ice.

(two)! li! Means for Solving the Problems The auger-type ice maker according to the present invention has at least two or more protrusions whose wall thickness is so thin that there is no problem in terms of strength, between a plurality of thick-walled protrusions provided at equal intervals. Short thin protrusions are formed at equal angular intervals, and sloped surfaces that gradually compress the ice and vertical surfaces parallel to the axial direction for shaping the ice are formed between these thin protrusions, and The compression passage is provided on at least one side of the compression passage formed between the thick protrusion piece and the thick protrusion piece.

(e) Effect: Due to the plurality of short thin protrusions provided at equal angular intervals, the size of the ice compression passage formed between them and between thick protrusions becomes the same, and the compressed ice blocks All will be the same size. In addition, since the number of compression passages can be increased and the area is not reduced compared to before, the balance between the amount of ice made in the cooling cylinder and the amount of water carried out from the compression passage is maintained, and a large amount of small hard ice is produced. Ru. In addition, the gently sloping surfaces of the thin protrusions gradually compress the ice, and the vertical surfaces following the sloping surfaces form the ice cubes sufficiently, resulting in a high-quality ice block (
Make chimp ice cream.

(f) Example Embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

First, an outline of an auger ice maker implementing the present invention will be explained with reference to FIG. Reference numeral 1 denotes a cooling cylinder having a refrigeration system evaporation pipe 2 wound around its outer surface, which is surrounded by a heat insulating wall 3. 4 is a water supply pipe that supplies water into the cooling cylinder 1; 5 is an ice cutting auger rotatably disposed inside the cooling cylinder 1; 6
An upper bearing supports the upper rotating shaft 5A of the auger 5, and a plurality of ice compression passages 7 are formed in the axial direction on the outer circumference. 8
1 is a percussion motor that transmits rotation to the auger 5 via a reducer 9; 10 is a water reservoir that communicates with the upper opening of the cooling cylinder 1 and stores the ice blocks sent out from the ice compression passage 7; 1 is the auger 5; an agitator connected to the upper rotating shaft 5A; 12 is a discharge port opening in the lower side wall of the water storage 10; l3 is a discharge port 1;
2 is a shutter that opens and closes electrically.

Next, the detailed structure of the upper bearing 6 will be explained with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3.

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the upper bearing 6, FIG. 2 is a partially exploded view of the upper bearing 6, and FIG. 3 is a partially sectional front view. In each figure, three long thick protrusions 14 protrude in the radial direction from the circumferential surface of the upper bearing 6 and extend in the axial direction.
, 14.14 are protruded at equal intervals (every 120 degrees). The lower part of the thick protruding piece 14, 14.14 has an acute tapered blade part 15 that allows the ice-shavings to rise smoothly, and following this blade part 15, gently sloped slopes 14a, 14a are formed on both sides, and the upper ends thereof are vertical surfaces 14a and 14b parallel to the axial direction. Between the thick protrusions 14, 14.14, at least two thin protrusions 16.16 are protruded at equal angular intervals. The thin protruding pieces 16, 16 have a thickness that does not cause any problem in terms of strength, and the length thereof is determined by the thick protruding pieces 14, 1.
It is shorter and more impressive than 4.14. By providing a plurality of thin protrusions 16.16 with reduced wall thickness in this way, the number of ice compression passages is increased, and the overall area of the ice compression passages does not have to be significantly reduced compared to before, The balance between the amount of ice made in the cooling cylinder 1 and the amount of water discharged through the ice compression passage 7 is not extremely disturbed, and there is no occurrence of ice clogging in the cooling cylinder, stable ice making operation is performed, and the amount of ice produced is also high. You can increase it. One surface of this thin protruding piece 16.16 consists of an inclined surface 16a, 16a that gently slopes upward from the lower part, and a vertical surface 16b, 16b that continues beyond that and parallel to the axial direction. At the same time, the other surface is a straight vertical surface 16c, 16 parallel to the axial direction.
c. In this way, the ice compression passage 7 formed between the thin protrusion pieces 16 and 16, and the ice compression passage 7 formed between the thin protrusion piece 16 and the thick protrusion piece 14 both move upward from the bottom. Accordingly, it is composed of an inclined passage section whose width gradually becomes narrower and a vertical passage section whose width is constant at the end thereof. Therefore, each thin protrusion piece 16.16
and an inclined surface 16b provided on the thick protruding piece 14.14,
16c and 14a serve to gradually compress the scraped water, while straight vertical surfaces 16a and 14b effectively perform the ice shaping process. In this way, high-quality ice blocks (chip ice) can be produced by gradual compression in the inclined passage section and shaping in the vertical passage section.

In the above arrangement, the operation will be explained next. The shaved ice scraped by the shaver auger 5 is pushed up and is divided by the tapered blade part 15 of the thick protrusion piece 14. Narrow ice compression passages 7, 7.7 are further divided by thin protrusions 16.16 along the acute slope of the blade-shaped portion 15.
to invade. The infiltrated scraping water is removed by gentle slopes 14a and 16 provided on the thick protrusion piece 14 and the thin protrusion piece 16.
Compression is performed little by little by step a. In this way, the ice smoothly enters the ice compression passages 7, 7.7, and the compressed ice becomes homogeneous without cracking due to gradual compression. Furthermore, this compressed ice mass is formed on vertical surfaces 14b, 16b. 16c, the appearance of the resulting ice becomes very good.

(G) Effects of the Invention As described above, according to the present invention, at least two very thin protrusions are provided between the plurality of thick protrusions that protrude from the circumferential surface of the upper bearing that pivotally supports the upper part of the auger. The number of ice compression passages is increased by providing ice compression passages at equal angular intervals, and the area of the ice compression passages is not significantly reduced compared to before, so even if the cooling cylinder is enlarged, the ice making of this cooling cylinder and the The ice being carried out from the ice compression passage does not lose its balance, allowing for good ice-making operation and continuous production of small, hard chip ice in large quantities. All ice compression passages have either a gentle slope provided on one side of a thin protrusion or a gentle slope provided on both sides of a thick protrusion, so ice compression is prevented by this slope. It is done gradually and can produce homogeneous chip ice without any cracks. Further, since a straight vertical surface following this inclined surface faces the upper end outlet of the ice compression passage, the ice can be perfectly shaped in this portion, and chip ice with a uniform appearance can be produced.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an upper bearing according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a partially exploded view of the upper bearing, and FIG. 3 is a partially sectional front view.
Figure 4 is an explanatory diagram of the structure where the main parts of the auger ice maker can be broken, Figure 5
The figure is a cross-sectional view of an upper bearing illustrating a conventional method for producing small, hard chip ice by grinding thick and thin protrusions. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Cooling cylinder, 5...Auger for ice cutting, 6...Upper bearing, 7...Ice compression passage, l4...Thick protrusion piece,
14a... Inclined surface, 14b... Vertical surface, 16...
Thin projection piece, 16a... inclined surface, 16b... vertical surface, 16c... vertical surface. Figure 1 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 2 Figure 7 7 7 Figure 5

Claims (1)

[Claims] An ice-shaving auger is disposed inside the cooling cylinder, and long thick protrusions protruding in the radial direction from the circumferential surface of the upper bearing supporting the upper rotational shaft of the auger and extending in the axial direction are provided at equal intervals, In an auger type ice maker in which short thin protrusions are formed between the thick protrusions, at least two or more short thin protrusions are formed between the plurality of thick protrusions with a thickness that does not cause problems in terms of strength. Protrusions are formed at equal angular intervals, and ice is gradually compressed inside at least one of the ice compression passages formed between the thin protrusions and between the thin protrusions and the thick protrusions. An auger-type ice maker characterized by having an inclined surface and a vertical surface parallel to an axial direction for performing an ice shaping process.